Steve Is NOT Dead

I recently discovered the website of Steve Burns, former host of the children's television show, Blue's Clues. It seems that ol' Steve did not actually die of a drug overdose or cancer, as many an internet rumor has posited over the last few years. Quite to the contrary, he is very much alive. And he has embarked on a career as a musical artist. When I first saw this site, I sort of laughed derisively...certain that his efforts as a musician would be as laughable as those of former Party of Five star Jennifer Love Hewitt or former adult film star Traci Lords.

I must admit, however, that I was pleasantly surprised. He has all of the songs from his soon-to-be-released album Songs for Dustmites available on his website, and the majority of them are quite good. I particularly enjoyed the songs "What I Do on Saturday" and "Mighty Little Man." One thing I noticed while browsing his site is that he doesn't make the desperate attempt to completely distance himself from his Blue's Clues days. In other words, there's no feeble effort to rework his image or anything like that. A lot of people in his position would probably try to completely reinvent themselves...disavowing everything to do with their work on a children's show. Anyway, suffice it to say that I am really impressed with what I've heard.

Well, my friends from the Shoah Foundation have managed to secure tickets to the Radiohead concert in September. The tickets were purchased through the KROQ online presale. My friend Angelica Ochoa has assured me that at least one of her tickets is reserved for me...so it looks like I'll be going to see Radiohead at The Hollywood Bowl on September 26. She also told me that she attempted to get some better seats when they went onsale to the general public today...however, both shows sold out in less than one minute. So, it looks like I'll be enjoying the concert from the N-section, unless we can somehow get a hold of better seats. N isn't that bad...it's not comparable to my garden box seats for REM on September 10...but it's not as bad as sitting in the W section.

No matter...I'm just excited to be able to finally go see Radiohead. The past two times they have played in Los Angeles, I have been completely unable to get tickets, in spite of all my best efforts. I honestly don't believe in paying $400 to see a concert...and that's what people tend to sell their extra Radiohead tickets for after the show is sold out.

I've never really had much luck getting decent tickets for concerts. I managed to get these REM tickets by being a fan club member. They give their fan club members first choice of seats at all their shows. I think Pearl Jam does the same thing. Back in 2001, I managed to get floor tickets for U2 at The Pond in Anaheim. That was more dumb luck that anything else. I had attempted to purchase tickets when they first went on sale...however, they sold out in like 2 minutes. I eventually just gave up.

About three hours later, however, I decided to log on to see if there were any tickets still available for their San Diego show. When I signed on, I noticed that another Anaheim show had been added and that the tickets were scheduled to go on sale at exactly that minute. I pressed the button and was told that I had successfully reserved two floor tickets. I was pretty happy about that.

Anyway...I've been pretty active lately as far as my social activities are concerned. I've been seeing far too many movies, eating out far too often. I need to remember that my current job will end on July 29...then I'm back to starving student status. I'm going to try to make it through this semester without procuring another student loan. I have already paid the tuition and everything, so we'll see what happens.

I have to go to Canada in a couple weeks. (I won't be anywhere near you, Sabrina...I'm going to Victoria, BC.) A couple of friends of mine are getting married there. I'm not sure why they decided to get married in Canada, considering that they both live in Alhambra. But, so be it. Fortunately, I was able to get a free flight there using frequent flier miles. That's good, because if I hadn't been able to do that, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford to go.

But, I digress. As I said, I have been going to far too many movies and eating out far too often. Last week, I ate out for lunch twice, dinner three times and breakfast once. I've also gone to see The Hulk, Terminator 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean. Tonight I went and had dinner at The Black Cow Cafe, here in Montrose, with my friend Amanda Chase because she wanted to see my impressive pictures from Kosovo and all that.

I guess one can only take so much frugal living. Every once in a while, one has to throw caution to the wind and eat something other than spaghetti or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.